Alaska is open for business, and business is ramping up. The Great Land has long been known to be a treasure trove, not only for gas and oil, but a wide range of strategic minerals. Until recently, as I have pointed out with frustration for many years, Washington has insisted on treating Alaska like a giant national park.
Well, that's over. Alaska's a huge, huge place. We can extract gas and oil, we can mine for those minerals, and we have plenty of untouched Alaska left for people to enjoy. And the mining, according to a report on Thursday from North of 60 Mining News, Alaska is already seeing revenues from the mining projects.
It's an exciting time to be an Alaskan.
While Alaska's mining industry has been building toward critical mass for decades, the 2024 election started a reaction that could sustain sector growth over the coming decade.
This chain reaction is visible across the state: in the Ambler Mining District, where a road reauthorized by the Trump administration is opening the metals-rich region for development and exploration; at Graphite Creek near Nome, an Alaska Native– and federally-backed mine project that will help break America's dependence on China for graphite, the largest ingredient in lithium-ion batteries; and in the emerging West Susitna Mining District, where a high-grade antimony project backed by the Pentagon is establishing a cornerstone for further development of this Southcentral region enriched with millions of ounces of gold and billions of pounds of copper.
In September, Alaska Miners Association (AMA) Executive Director Deantha Skibinski testified to the United States Senate, noting that the mining sector in Alaska is already a major part of the Great Land's economy. This includes over 12,000 jobs and $240 million in revenues to Alaska Native corporations.
Revenues for natives, now, one would think even Democrats would get behind that. But, of course, we can expect Democrats in and out of government to oppose Alaska's development every step of the way, and if they ever gain control of Congress and the White House again, we'll go back to being the world's largest national park.
For the time being, though, things are looking up. The approval of the Ambler Road will make transport of refined ores from the Ambler Mining District much, much easier, and that area alone is a trove. A recent White House press release said of the Amber area:
- An access road is crucial to unlocking critical minerals located in this currently-inaccessible area of Alaska, which has been characterized as one of the largest undeveloped copper-zinc mineral belts in the world and contains extensive deposits of copper, silver, gold, lead, cobalt, and other strategic metals.
- The road will provide essential surface transportation access for the more than 1,700 active mining claims in the District, supporting expanded mineral exploration, mine development, and operations.
- Construction of the road will directly support 2,730 jobs, driving income, spending, and economic growth in rural Alaska.
The Pentagon is even invested in this project, and while that may raise eyebrows in some quarters, one must also note that these are strategic resources, resources on which we are too often dependent on nations that aren't particularly friendly. That makes this a national security issue. We are familiar with those here in the Great Land; whoever controls Alaska controls the Pacific north of the equator, and if you think Russia and China don't know that, you're kidding yourself.
Read More: Yes, Let's Take Every Last, Wondrous Drop of Oil
This Is Big: Trump Approves Key Alaska Mining Road
Mining News North also notes that mineral prices are rising, and are expected to rise further, making domestic sources all the more valuable - and more important.
Gold, silver, and copper – three pillars of the current value and future growth for Alaska mining – have all reached record levels in 2025.
Gold has soared roughly 55% since the beginning of the year, breaching $4,100 per ounce amid safehaven buying and inflation pressures. Silver has rocketed 62% this year, to around $50 per ounce, fueled by industrial demand and investor speculation.
Copper, the essential metal of electrification, hit an all-time high of $5.82 per pound before stabilizing near $5 – a price that supports both mine expansion and new development. Antimony, propelled by supply shocks and defense demand, has surged more than 500% over two years to about $27 per pound.
All this comes on top of the increase in gas and oil development in Alaska. This has the potential to drive Alaska's economy for a generation or more.
Now, all that good news won't go unnoticed by the left. Look for a spate of commercials, showing the pristine vistas for which Alaska is rightly known, of which we have so many. The left will claim that these beautiful areas are to be destroyed, but that's a canard. They'll still be there. There's plenty of Alaska for all purposes - 665,384 square miles of it. We have, as I've mentioned before, more coastline than the lower 48 states combined, enough land area to lose Texas, California, and Montana, and all manner of terrain - mountains, tundra, black spruce bogs (along with all the summer mosquitoes they are famous for), and of course the great northern taiga. The proposed extraction and mining projects won't take up but a tiny fraction of the whole.
Alaska, the Great Land, the Crown of the Pacific, is open for business, and these policies have the potential to Make Alaska Great Again.
